


Knight of Acherus

by DarkeShayde



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Battle, Gen, Genocide, Memory Loss, Mind Control, Murder, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 07:09:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15067847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkeShayde/pseuds/DarkeShayde
Summary: A look into the mindset of a Death Knight of Acherus. What it was like and what they felt ... or didn’t feel.





	Knight of Acherus

I watched with complete indifference as Instructor Razuvious declared yet another initiate to be unworthy and struck him down without ceremony or regret. This one was a draenei, the one before that had been an elf, and many more before that I can no longer recall. I had seen this same thing happen many times since I myself had been raised in a similar manner. I was one of the very few chosen to wield a runeblade in his name. The Lich King himself sent me and my fellow death knights to show the Scarlet Crusade and Light’s Hope why defying his will was the wrong choice to make. I obeyed him without a question or second thought. I even took pleasure in the fear and horror the Crusaders felt at my very presence alone.

I killed not only the soldiers, but defenseless citizens as well, all the while hearing the voice of the Lich King in my mind. He would say to me that mercy was for the weak and I must show none of it or he would order me to _kill them all_. I obeyed. I stole a horse from right under the Crusade’s noses so that I might make it into a mount of my own. Undead, like me. Even going into the shadow realm to lay claim to it. Nothing was safe from my blade.

I went to the mines and turned the miners into ghouls. I then delivered them to Gothik the Harvester. More souls for fuel. I snuck aboard one of the ships of the Scarlet fleet while hidden away in a mine cart, then used their own cannons to blast them all into the afterlife. Their blood will stain the beach there for _years_ to come.

It was I that stole into the town hall at New Avalon, killed the Mayor, and took the town registry. In New Avalon, I took even more innocent lives at the command of my king. I killed because I _could_. I gathered their skulls for Noth the Plaguebringer to use in his cauldron that jumped and spewed green gas.

That was where we heard rumors of a “Crimson Dawn” and I was once again dispatched to discover just what it was. I tortured many Crusade members before one of them finally gave in, though the effort of holding out killed them before I could finish the job myself. _Disappointing_. From this we learned of a courier that was supposed to have the details of the information we wanted.

We had to know when this courier was to come, so I went into the Scarlet Hold at New Avalon to find out. While I was there, I retrieved Koltira Deathweaver from the basement and the experiments the Crusade was doing to him. We both made it out in one piece and back to the Scarlet Tavern, our current hiding place, after killing High Inquisitor Valroth in our escape.

It was around that time that I was given a glimpse of what life was like on the other side of the battle. The side that I had come from. I was sent to Knight Commander Plaguefist at the Chapel of the Crimson Flame. I distantly remember thinking that the Crusade was not very original in naming things. It was but a fleeting thought that was gone the next moment. The Crusade had some prisoners of war, members of the Argent Dawn, that Plaguefist was about to kill when I arrived. There was one that he thought I would take great pleasure in killing. So into the prison house I went.

When I stepped into the prison house, I saw the human woman the Knight Commander had been talking about, along with others of just about every race, chained to the walls. There was sniffling and quiet sobs coming from all around. They knew it was the end for them all. The human I was sent after was tan skinned and blonde with a defiant glint in her eyes that told me that she had not gone easily.

“Come to finish the job, have you?” she asked with a sneer as I stopped walking and paused in front of her. I did not answer her, but rather I waited to see what else she would say. No one before her had taken such an attitude with me. At least not since I had risen.

“I’d like to stand for …” she began as she stood and finally looked at me. Her horror and disbelief at seeing me was almost a physical presence in the room, but I chose not to react to it. I would not show weakness to this human.

“Willow?” Again, I said nothing. I was unsure of how she could have known my name. I did not even remember it was my name. I was told upon my reawakening as a champion of the Scourge. I had no memories before that moment.

“Willow Dukes, I’d recognize that face anywhere … What … What have they done to you?!” she cried much more emotion behind her words now. I know I allowed my surprise show on my face then, but I could not help it. This human woman was now looking at me as if I meant something to her and to me she was a _stranger_.

“You don't remember me, do you? Blasted Scourge … They've tried to drain you of everything that made you a righteous force of reckoning. Every last ounce of good ... Everything that made you human!” she went on. “My name is Ellen. Ellen Stanbridge. Do you remember me?” I shook my head, too confused by everything to speak. I also suspected that my dead, echoing voice would only upset her more and I had the sudden, unreasonable desire to prevent causing her further pain.

“Think, Willow. Think back. Try and remember the hills and valleys of Elwynn, where you were born. Remember the splendor of life, sister. You were a champion of the Alliance once! This isn't you.” Ellen spoke more firmly then, as though addressing someone that was not understanding, which I now suppose she was. Until then I remembered nothing of … home. I was beginning to see blurry visions of tall, old trees and fields filled with pumpkins and corn. Small towns that bustled with activity. So different from the harsh cold and ice of Northrend and the death and flames that surrounded us in the Plaguelands.

“Listen to me, Willow. You must fight against the Lich King's control. He is a monster that wants to see this world … our world … in ruin. Don't let him use you to accomplish his goals. You were once a hero and you can be again. Fight, damn you! Fight his control!” She implored me and I could feel myself wanting to believe what she was telling me. I could feel a tight hold I had not realized was on me lessening, if only the tiniest little bit.

At that moment though, I heard Plaguefist’s voice outside, asking me what was taking so long. I turned to be sure he was not coming inside though I did not know what made me what to hide this exchange from him. Ellen coughed then and when I faced her again, I could see flecks of blood on her hands and around her mouth.

“There ... There's no more time for me. I'm done for. Finish me off, Willow.” I hesitated drawing my blade just a second, but she noticed right away. “Do it or they'll kill us both. Willow ... Remember Elwynn. This world is worth saving …”

Resigned, I took my runeblade, the weapon of choice for Arthus’ greatest soldiers, and killed her. For the first time since waking in Ebon Hold, I felt remorse at the life I had just cut short. Even though there was nothing to be done for her and if I had not, someone else would have without a second thought.

Upon my return to the Scarlet Tavern, Thassarian saluted me and told me that I was a _cold-blooded monster_. It no longer felt like a compliment. In the privacy of my mind, I was beginning to question and to wonder. But there was no time then, as I was to find this courier, kill him, and take his documents and clothing. It was time to infiltrate the Scarlet Crusade and see what they were really up to.

It was a _disgustingly_ easy kill. The courier was far too stupid and should not have been trusted with important information. He was after all fooled into going to look at the worst cut out of a tree ever made. Death Knights are fighters, not artists after all. Then it was a matter of making me look like the courier enough to fool High General Abbendis down at King’s Harbor. We did not want the Crusade to get suspicious about any missing documents and change their plans.

The High General must not have been trained to sense dark magic or my disguise would not have fooled her for a second. She did not bat an eye at my appearance, however. I handed her the courier’s message, and waited to see what she would say. She read over the message before turning to address me.

“Listen well, courier. The Scarlet lands are lost. New Avalon and Havenshire are overrun by Scourge. The specter of death looms overhead and threatens to overtake us at any moment.” She paused a moment then. I was worried she had seen through my costume at last, but she continued after a breath.

“Return to Galvar with this message: _Turn your armies around and prepare your ships for travel to the frozen wastes. When we next meet it will be in Northrend._ Give this to Galvar. It will explain everything.” Abbendis handed me a journal and offered one parting phrase. The beginning of that phrase was to be the victory cry of all the Scourge, if only the end had not been.

“The Scarlet Crusade is no more. Long live the Scarlet Onslaught!” I gave the High General a slight bow and went on my way, though not to Galvar. Instead, I went straight to Orbaz Bloodbane, who was waiting for my return to the Scarlet Tavern. He laughed upon reading the journal and hearing me repeat Abbendis’ parting words.

“What rubbish! This is the "Crimson Dawn?" They sail to their deaths! Let us turn our focus to the encroaching armies.” Orbaz said. He turned to me once again and began issuing orders.

“You will take what you have discovered to Highlord Mograine at once! I will open a portal directly to Acherus. Step inside and it will transport you. Give Highlord Mograine Abbendis' journal as well. Perhaps he'll find it useful.” I did as he said and stepped through the death gate he had opened.

I approached Highlord Mograine with some trepidation inside my mind. After my encounter with Ellen, none of the undead looked like allies to me anymore. I told him of my activities and gave him the journal. He smiled though it was not a happy one.

“You have become an instrument of doom, death knight! We will ravage these approaching armies and raise the dead as our own!” I felt my insides turning at the thought when I realized those raised would be just like me. _That_ was where I came from. Who I once was. I was beginning to remember again.

“The Lich Knight awaits your return, champion.” Mograine said then, breaking into my twisted and confused musings. “He stands below us at Death’s Breach. You had best go.” I nodded and turned to leave. It was a simple gryphon ride down to where Arthus was waiting. Watching. His eyes glowed brighter than normal at the slaughter below. A slaughter that _I_ had helped bring about.

“You have served me well, Willow. The mark of the Scourge has been burned into these Scarlet lands. You have reaped death and destruction for as far as the eye can see and delivered to me the last of the Scarlet armies.” I bowed to the Lich King and accepted his words of praise.

“It is now time to finish what you started.” he went on and pointed down toward the ruins of Havenshire and New Avalon, which was now burning brightly. Being so close to such a powerful embodiment of death, I could feel my earlier doubts and questions receding as if they were running from his very presence.

“You have slaughtered legions beyond number and still your dark heart craves more. Your hunger knows no end, Willow.” There he paused and looked hard at me. I could feel that _hunger_ deep inside again and it wanted to kill as many as it could so as to feast on their fear.

“There must come an end to all things, death knight. The Scarlet armies make their final stand against us. For them, there is no escape ... no choice. And for this reason they will fight with a ferocity that you have yet to witness.”

The Lich King handed me a horn that I had seen used to call one of the frost wyrms. I bowed once again to Arthus and quickly mounted the massive creature when it came. I then began an onslaught on what remained of the Scarlet Crusade. I could hear the voice of the Lich King in my head telling me to kill them all as I destroyed their weapons and soldiers and allowed the wyrm to devour some of them alive.

When I could find none left alive, I returned to Death’s Breach and Arthus himself placed a new helm upon my head. I was a fully realized death knight in the service of the Scourge. I was a harbinger of death and _loved_ it. Elwynn forest was long gone from my mind once again.

“There remains one final task.” As he spoke, the Lich King looked west at something I could not yet see. “Light’s Hope Chapel.” He had mentioned Light’s Hope before as a place where there was a force fighting his reign. It would be my job to remove that pocket of resistance. After he dismissed me, I rode toward that final battle with a command not to fail. I had no plans of doing so.

Just a stone’s throw away from Light’s Hope, we gathered to begin our assault upon the chapel. Highlord Mograine led the charge and we plunged headlong into a furious battle. I confess I thankfully do not remember much, only fighting and killing as many of them as I could. My vision bled red and I could only hear snatches of what was going on around me. Suddenly though, all was still and silent around the chapel.

I looked around and realized with a sinking feeling that Bloodbane had fled and abandoned us. Mograine appeared to be having trouble handling his own sword as well. A voice I had not heard before barked out an order for us to be brought before the chapel. I was herded along with those that remained to stand next to our Highlord.

“Stand down, death knights. We have lost ... The Light ... This place ... No hope …” Mograine seemed to be talking to himself at this point. So I turned my attention to the paladin standing before us. I wanted _so much_ in that moment to wipe that superior look off his face.

The man, Highlord Tirion Fordring, began a long tirade about Mograine having become all that his father had fought against and allowing the darkness and the hate consume him. I knew that those words could have easily been directed at me. I suddenly remembered Ellen again and what she had said to me back in that prison house. Then Fordring’s booming voice captured my attention again.

“Your master knows what lies beneath the chapel. It is why he dares not show his face! He's sent you and your death knights to meet their doom, Darion.”

 _What?_ How could that be true? Surely the Lich King valued his soldiers, especially his death knight champions. We make his war possible. I was not allowed to wonder about his words long, because he continued not even a second later.

“What you are feeling right now is the anguish of a thousand lost souls! Souls that you and your master brought here! The Light will tear you apart, Darion!” At that point, Mograine seemed to have had enough. He stood to his feet and pointed his sword at Fordring, though it seemed to still be fighting him somewhat.

“Save your breath, old man. It might be the last you ever draw.” Then a bright light appeared behind us. I was expecting it to be an attack. To my surprise, the image of a man stood in the middle of the light and began speaking to Mograine, but not the champion of undeath standing next to me. I realized that we were seeing into Mograine’s past. Who he was before the Scourge took him as their own. So the man speaking could only be Mograine’s father, the late Highlord Alexandros Mograine. It seemed like a low blow to my Scourge inclined mind to pull memories of a life he could no longer have and show them to the world. I can still hear the parting words of Alexandros Mograine, “Do not forget …”

“Touching.” An echoing voice said, sarcasm practically dripping from the single word. The strangely peaceful scene was shattered when Arthus suddenly appeared and siphoned the soul of Mograine’s father into Frostmourne. Mograine snapped out of whatever spell he had been under and he gripped his sword, the Ashbringer, tighter. I could almost _feel_ the rage pouring from Mograine.

“He is mine now …” Arthus gloated. He stared Mograine down as if challenging him to do something. Daring the Highlord to defy who was once, and might have remained, his master.

“You … betrayed me. You betrayed us all, monster! Face the might of Mograine!” The Highlord shouted. The Lich King merely backhanded Mograine away and remained where he had been standing, not winded at all. Highlord Mograine however crumbled where he landed and did not move.

“Pathetic …” was all Arthus said with a sneer. His _champion_. He had knocked him away as if he was nothing. As if we really were … expendables.

“You’re a damned monster, Arthus.” Fordring yelled stepping forward. The Lich King simply laughed at his words, as if he was a foolish child.

“You were right, Fordring. I did send them in to die. Their lives are meaningless, but yours ... How simple it was to draw the great Tirion Fordring out of hiding. You've left yourself exposed, paladin. Nothing will save you … ” All hell broke loose again when Arthus cast a powerful spell on the paladin before him. I could hear Fordring gasping as if he could not breathe. Those that dared to attack the Lich King were blow back and struck down by Arthus with a shout of “APOCALYPSE!”

It seemed that the Lich King would win at last and I was debating which side I really wanted to be on when I heard Mograine speaking quietly nearby. Words no one was meant to overhear.

“That day is not today …” A repeat of his father’s words to him years ago. That was the moment when his allegiance shifted. Once again, he was fighting to save the lives of the world and for the Light.

“Tirion!” Mograine shouted as he threw the Ashbringer to Fordring. As soon as the corrupted sword was in Fordring’s hand, the blade was cleansed and made a holy weapon again. In the back of my mind, I knew right then that Mograine would never wield the weapon again. As an undead, he could not handle something as holy as that sword now was. He _must_ have known, yet he threw the sword regardless.

The effort of throwing the Ashbringer, not an easy feat to be sure, was too much for Mograine and he collapsed. With the might of the Ashbringer in all its former glory, Fordring was able to free himself of the killing spell and make a charge at Arthus. He was able to drive the Lich King back.

“Impossible … This … isn’t … over.” Arthus choked out, but he was already retreating. “When next we meet it won’t be on holy ground, paladin.” And then he was simply gone. I had not moved during this whole thing and then I wondered if I had cut off my only escape. The Light was not my ally. I was everything _opposite_ to the Light, whether I chose this or not.

While my mind wandered, Fordring had helped Mograine get up and was talking again. I forced myself to pay attention. He mentioned those that had died there defending their homes and allies. Then he declared that the Argent Dawn and the Order of the Silver Hand would come together to fight as one.

“The Argent Crusade comes for you, Arthus!” Fordring cried. My dead heart sank at those words. I would never belong to this Crusade any more than I had belonged to the last one. But an echoing voice behind me caused my worry to disappear almost as soon as it had begun.

“So too do the Knights of the Ebon Blade ... While our kind has no place in your world, we will fight to bring an end to the Lich King. This I vow!” Mograine declared firmly. He then turned to me and the other death knights standing around him, waiting for guidance.

“There will be no atonement for us, Willow. We are forever damned to walk the earth as monsters. While the Lich King may have loosed his grip upon us, the specters of the past will forever haunt our memories. We must make amends in the only way we know how: Death …” he said, “I ask you now to join me in Acherus as a Knight of the Ebon Blade. Together we will destroy the Lich King and end the Scourge.” I nodded my consent at once and made ready to follow him.

I could never be what I once was, a hero of the Alliance, but I _could_ be a Knight of the Ebon Blade. I could wield death as my weapon and raise my fallen foes to fight for me. Only now, I would fight against Arthus and the Scourge. I had a score to settle with the Lich King that would only end in one of us dying and I had no plans to die again.


End file.
